Hi my Fellow People Interested In Buying A Scanner That Can Cover All The LAFD,LAPD,My Local Police Department ETC Like That. My Scanner That I Currently Have Is An Old Radio Shack Scanner Which Can Not Cover The New Trucnking System That My Sheriffs Department And Police Department Have. I'm Not Getting One For Only The Trunking System But All Sorts Of Frequency's. I Would Like A Radio That Would BE Affordable With A Wide Range In The Price Range Of $10-150 If Possible. Kindly Let Me Now In The Comments What Scanner Is Needed For This. I Was Looking At The Baofeng UV-5R Two Way Radio But Dont Now If That Supports Trunking And Non Truncking Frequency's. Please Let Me Now. Thank You!!!!
Scanner Question?
- Thread starter Otter234
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Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
At the very least you'll need a P25 capable scanner to cover LAPD (P25 conventional). We need specifics on who your "local sheriff and police department" are to determine what type of trunking system they're operating on, if they're not encrypted & to determine if a more advanced scanner is needed to cover them. There's a chance you'll need to raise your budget a bit higher than $150.00, perhaps double if P25 Phase-II is needed. Please provide specific local agency(ies) when you can so we can look at the database and see where everybody is.
At the very least you'll need a P25 capable scanner to cover LAPD (P25 conventional). We need specifics on who your "local sheriff and police department" are to determine what type of trunking system they're operating on, if they're not encrypted & to determine if a more advanced scanner is needed to cover them. There's a chance you'll need to raise your budget a bit higher than $150.00, perhaps double if P25 Phase-II is needed. Please provide specific local agency(ies) when you can so we can look at the database and see where everybody is.
Your budget and your wants are a long ways apart from each other. Baofeng transceivers are not capable of digital nor trunk tracking. Looks like LAPD is headed to using a P25 phase 2 trunking system, so that narrows the list of possibilities down to $400 and higher scanners. The question is whether it will also be encrypted which means you can‘t listen at all.
You may wish to request this be moved to Greater LA forum to get current state of listening in the area and how transition to new P25 trucked system is progressing. To do this use report link at bottom left and ask mods to move.
You may wish to request this be moved to Greater LA forum to get current state of listening in the area and how transition to new P25 trucked system is progressing. To do this use report link at bottom left and ask mods to move.
None of the Baofengs, which are not scanners, will allow you to listen to the agencies in your area.
Any Suggestions On A Portable One?
La County Sheriffs/Walnut Division
Covina Police Department
CHP
ETC In The Area Of That
La County Sheriffs/Walnut Division
Covina Police Department
CHP
ETC In The Area Of That
Engine104
Member since 2005
LAFD and LASD are analog for now, but at some point LASD will be moving to the new LA-RICS system (P25, Phase 2, Motorola trunked), but if you check the RR database here, you'll see that most talk groups will sadly be encrypted. LACoFD will be on there as well, but, fortunately, most of their talk groups will be in the clear. Anyway, at the very least, I'd suggest a phase-2 capable scanner. More and more LE agencies are going encrypted, but it looks like most fire departments will stay in the clear, at least for much of their talk groups.
Is There A Scanner That Can By Bass Encrypted?
And What Would Be The Best Scanner That Would Be Great AT The Moment Like Many Specific Ones With The Whole Trunking System Because My Local Police Department Switch To Trunking And Cant Pick Them Up On The Scanner I Have Now So I AM In THe Market For A New One And Dont Want To Waste My Money On One That Doesn't Work For My Agencies.
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Yup, you can pretty much throw the $150 limit out the window if/when this happens. On the used market if you're lucky you might be able to find a P25 Phase-II scanner between $325 and $350. But ultimately the OP should be prepared to pay $350-$650 or more, particularly if target system(s) is (are) simulcast (which only the Uniden SDS100, SDS200 are designed to properly mitigate)
The following scanners can decode P25 Phase I, Phase II, and Motorola X2-TDMA systems.
- GRE PSR-800 2
- Radio Shack Pro-18 3, Pro-668
- Uniden BCD325P2, BCD436HP, BCD536HP, BCD996P2, HomePatrol-2, SDS100, SDS200
- Whistler WS1080, WS1088, WS1095, WS1098, TRX-1, TRX-2
2 Requires latest firmware update.3 Requires Whistler Official Upgrade (WOU).
3 Requires Whistler Official Upgrade (WOU).
To clarify the above point: Many amateur HTs can scan groups of frequencies programmed into memory & this would suffice for analog conventional frequencies only, they just cannot trunk track
To clarify the above post, I have a collection of over 40 ham and commercial HTs. My $400 plus HTs cannot match the scan speed or flexibility of any scanner. My fastest scanner scans at 200 frequencies per second (IC-R30) and also does not do trunking.
I think you would have to ask the National Security Agency if they have one to bypass encrypted.
For $150 the best that's probably going to be available new is an analog trunking scanner.
With an analog trunking scanner you can monitor about anything here listed as FM, FMN, LTR Standard, and Motorola Type II.
Air band, which is usually AM, is listed under a separate tab.
Los Angeles County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Los Angeles County, California (CA)
www.radioreference.com
The issue I found with Motorola Type II though, if the listing is on this site, it must have LCN frequency tables, at least for certain scanners, to be downloaded to the scanner.
This is dependant on users of this site uploading the information. But you may be able to manually input what you need into the scanner.
I'd recommend the Uniden 325P2 handheld. It's will fulfill nearly all your requirements (no encryption and more then $150). While not a bargain, it gives you the most bang for your buck. I have one and use it for basically the same systems as you are interested in. You will also want programming software. Look at ProScan. It's full featured and very well supported here on RR.
So Are These Compatible With Truncking And If I Raise My Budget What Would Be Your Choice To Try To get All My Agencies That Arent Encrypted
Engine104
Member since 2005
Couple things: 1. Per the RR database for LA-RICS , LASD dispatch should be in the clear, while L-Tacs, etc are all going to be encrypted, including Aero. 2. I'll second the nomination for the BCD325 and BCD486 as good options for handheld P-2 capable trunking scanners.
I would not look at anything less than the SDS100 or 200. Currently most is conventional for LAPD & LASO but they are working on going to trunking and those systems will be simulcast. You can buy something today and in a year or two not receive what you want to hear. Phase 2 on these systems is a real possibility to consider as well. Encryption is probable and nothing can receive those transmissions.
Engine104
Member since 2005
I may be wrong, but most of the LA-RICS sites will not be simulcast (Some will be). Check the RR database. Also, it sounds like the SDS series (though they are the only scanner radios out there right now that handle simulcast), may be out of the OP's budget. I know they are for me.
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